REP. PHILLIP BURTON, DEMOCRATIC LIBERAL, DIES ON VISIT TO CALIFORNIA

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Representative Phillip Burton, an important figure among Democratic liberals in the House of Representatives, died here early today a few hours after being stricken in his hotel room on a visit to his Congressional district. He was 56 years old.

Boyd Stephens, the San Francisco Coroner, said Mr. Burton was pronounced dead at St. Francis Hospital at 1:44 A.M. today. The coroner said Mr. Burton had complained of chest pains and collapsed just after midnight at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, his home when he was in the district. An autopsy will be conducted Monday.

As a member, a one-time chairman and a driving force behind the House Democratic Study Group, Mr. Burton in his two decades in Washington led agitation for rules changes that brought greater influence to younger members while diminishing the power of committee chairmen, who were generally more conservative than Mr. Burton.

Soon after arriving in the House as winner of a special election here on Feb. 18, 1964, he began to attack the House Un-American Activities Committee, and then to oppose the Vietnam War. He became recognized as an expert on welfare legislation. He pushed through creation of the Redwood National Park along the Northern California coast, and of the Golden Gate Recreational District stretching along both sides of the entrance to San Francisco Bay. 'A Caring Man,' Mondale Says

Former Vice President Walter F. Mondale said today that Mr. Burton was ''a warm and caring man, a gifted servant of the people of California, a fighter for social justice, and a national leader in the Congress.''

Mr. Burton reached the peak of his formal power in the House in 1976 when by one vote he lost a race for majority leader to Representative Jim Wright of Texas. Some House members had expected Mr. Burton to again challenge Mr. Wright, this time for the post of Speaker, should the current Speaker, Representative Thomas P. O'Neill Jr. of Massachusetts, retire.

Probably the truest description of Mr. Burton's politics was his four-word definition of himself delivered after winning his House seat when he was 37 years old: ''I'm a fighting liberal.''

He was elected to the California Assembly in 1956 when he was 30, the youngest member then of the Legislature. In his years in Sacramento, as he was later to do in Washington, he became known as a deal maker, a good friend, a bad enemy. After his election to the House, he said he expected then-Assembly Speaker Jesse M. Unruh would be glad to see him go.

In Washington, Mr. Burton was helpful to many new Democratic House members. ''He was a political godfather to a lot of us,'' Representative Tony Coehlo, Democrat of California, said after learning of Mr. Burton's death. Another California Democrat, Representative George Miller, said, ''He was like a father to me,'' . 'A Young Curmudgeon'

When a House vote approached on an issue that had his interest, he worked the House floor for votes like a bird dog nosing out quail. He made arrangements that were surprising, such as getting the Conservative Wayne L. Hays of Ohio to support him for House Democratic Caucus chairman in 1974.

''A young curmudgeon,'' a reluctant admirer called him after he became caucus chairman. He was a tall, heavy-bodied man, who leaned forward impatiently in his rumpled suit as he hurried along; a chain smoker with seemingly endless energy, Mr. Burton's intensity sometimes made others uncomfortable. A Sacramento political writer once said everyone opposed Mr. Burton but the voters.

His strength in his Fifth Congressional District got its sternest test last year when the Republican party fielded its top San Francisco vote-getter, State Senator Milton Marks, against him. Although his personal prestige was at its lowest ebb because of criticism of a state redistricting that he ramrodded, Mr. Burton defeated Mr. Marks 58 percent to 40 percent.

Mr. Burton was high on the list of Democratic House members that the Republican party wanted to beat. The reason was the Burton redistricting plan for the California delegation, the House's largest. Those district lines let Democrats win 28 seats to 17 for Republicans, as against a Democratic edge of 22-21 in a smaller delegation the previous election. ''My contribution to modern art,'' Mr. Burton once said of the reapportionment. A new districting bill is in the works, but the new Democrats will now be running as incumbents. A District for His Brother

One aspect of the Burton redistricting that caused eyebrows to rise was the creation of the serpentine Sixth District for his brother, John, who had squeaked by with 51 percent of the vote in 1980. The new John Burton district ran through parts of four counties to expand the Democratic registration majority. A San Francisco Examiner editorial was titled ''Burton: The Arrogance of Power.''

In a decision vastly disappointing to Phillip Burton, John Burton decided not to run for re-election last year. Democrats carried the district anyway.

Gov. George Deukmejian, a Republican, will call a special election to fill the vacancy. Thanks to its late incumbent's redistricting plan, the Fifth District, covering the western two-thirds of San Francisco, is 62 per cent Democratic. Under the nonpartisan labels they wear in local elections, most San Francisco officials are Democrats and a stampede to succeed Mr. Burton will likely begin after his funeral.

Phillip Burton was born in Cincinnati, June 1, 1926, the son of a physician. He graduated from high school here, and from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He earned a law degree from Golden Gate Law School here. He was a veteran of World War II and the Korean War. He is survived by his wife, Sala, and a daughter, Joy.

A version of this obituary appears in print on April 11, 1983, on Page B00006 of the National edition with the headline: REP. PHILLIP BURTON, DEMOCRATIC LIBERAL, DIES ON VISIT TO CALIFORNIA. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe